A COLONY of tarantulas has settled on Hampstead Heath.
But there’s no need to panic – the spiders are only an inch long and not poisonous.
Ed ‘spiderman’ Milner, the official recorder of spiders for London and Middlesex, discovered a colony of rare tube-web spiders, Atypus Affinis, on a grassy knoll near the Vale of Health.
The colony is only the second to be found in this country. Mr Milner said it was the spider world equivalent of having predators like lions or cheetahs roaming the Heath.
He added: “The spiders are chunky and hairy like real tarantulas, but they are only an inch or so long so they’re not very scary. They are wonderful creatures.”
Mr Milner monitors the Heath’s 50 types of spider using 24 traps, which he locates by a global positioning system (GPS).
The tarantulas are not the only rare species on the Heath, which also has money spiders and jumping spiders.
The tube-web tarantulas get their name from the tube-like webs they make to catch their prey. They mainly eat small beetles and other insects.
Mr Milner said wild rabbits had kept the spider colony alive. He added: “This patch of the Heath is unique.
“Because few people come here, wild rabbits prune the grassland, taking certain nutrients out of the soil and that stops trees growing. “Thanks to the rabbits, it is the only place these spiders could inhabit.”
Now Mr Milner is lobbying Heath chiefs to zone off parts of the park so rare species can thrive.